Which to use
“décéder” is a verb and “décédés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,290
- “décéder” frequency rank
- #18,181
- “décédés” frequency rank
- 55471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décéder | décédés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mourir, en parlant des personnes. | Masculin pluriel de décédé. |
Same sound, different letters: décéder vs décédés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. décéder and décédés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Homophone desk: décéder vs décédés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: décéder and décédés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.se.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décéder is recorded at frequency rank #37,290, classified as averb, pronounced \de.se.de\. décédés is at rank #18,181, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.se.de\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 55471, this pair ranks #127,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décéder vs décédés
Shared letters: cdé. Private to "décéder": er. Private to "décédés": s.
"décéder" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "décédés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "décéder" and "décédés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "décéder" or "décédés" show up more?
Useful next steps
"décéder" and "décédés" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "décéder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décédés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #127,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décéder" and "décédés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèdent vs décéder". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #127,244 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.